Despite legislation, transgender people face hostility in Pakistan

“It is our right to protest and take to the streets. Now it is the government’s responsibility to implement this bill because in the past, [bills have been] passed but never practically implemented.”

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, passed by Pakistan’s Parliament in May 2018, allows people to self-identify as male, female or non-binary and to have that identity recorded on official documents, including passports and ID cards.

It guarantees citizens the right to a gender identity defined as “a person’s innermost and individual sense of self” that can “correspond or not to the sex assigned at birth.”

The bill also prohibits discrimination in public places, including schools, hospitals and on public transport, and ensures trans citizens are given the right to vote in elections and run for office.

But despite the legislation, transgender people still face extreme hostility in Pakistani society.